


Retirement

by acercrea



Category: Football RPF
Genre: M/M, Retirement, Schweinski, tough conversations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-27 16:44:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7626250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acercrea/pseuds/acercrea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I was so sad to hear that Basti retired today, so I wrote this. Just a little bit of supportive Schweinski.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Retirement

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This is just fiction. This probably never happened, but I like the idea of Poldi and Basti being the shoulder to lean on for each other.

“I thought you were about to hold a press conference,” he joked when he answered my call.

“Am I doing the right thing?” I asked him for probably the hundredth time since we were eliminated from the Euros.

“If I had the answer to that than you would be without your Poldi, and then where would you be? The world, after all, does not need 2 Bastis,” he reminded me.

“I know, if you had the answer to my question you would be me. But how does someone make a decision like this?” I questioned.

“I have no idea; you should probably ask someone who has had to. You would have plenty of numbers to choose from. Miro, Per, Fips, Ballack, Lehmann, Kahn. All of them have retired, and you can call all of them. And yet you call me, multiple times, to ask me to answer a question for you that I haven’t answered myself yet. Why do you keep asking me?” Poldi asked.

“Because you are the best friend I have ever had. You have been there with me every step of the way. We debuted on the same day, you have been there every step of the journey. More than any other team mate, you have been there. Training, friendlies, you were there for every major competition, we lost the world cup together and we won it together. And we have always been on the same page,” I trailed off.

“What are you saying Basti? Is that the reason you are doubting yourself? Because I don’t know yet if I am going to retire? And you don’t want to do it without me?” he asked.

“Not that I don’t want to do it without you. I am just wondering if you aren’t sure, does that mean that I shouldn’t be sure? How can I be sure if you are not sure, Poldi? That has never happened before,” I breathed.

“You can’t use me as the excuse to put this off Basti. I have my own things to consider and my reasons to retire or not won’t be the same as yours. Does it feel like the right time? Forget the fact that we just lost our 4th Euros. You will be too old in 4 years, so this was always going to be your last Euros no matter what. Do you want to try for one more World Cup? Because if the answer isn’t an automatic resounding yes then I think you have your answer. There is nothing new that you can win. You don’t have anything left to prove. And even if you don’t believe that, I know it is true,” he told me.

We sat in silence for a minute while I thought about he was saying. He was right. I had nothing left to prove. It hurt so much to lose that semi-final, but the deck was stacked against us. France was an amazing team, and the ref was not on our side. He let us get run over time and again, up and down the field. It made me think back to Rio, when the team was more aggressive and the same ref turned a blind eye.

I was running my fingertip over the scar on my cheek, my little souvenir from the final that he judged, as I questioned, “Why did it have to be Rizzoli?”

“I wanted to be on that field with you guys, so badly. Watching you guys 2 years ago and knowing that there was nothing I could do but watch it happen was torture. And then I have to watch you guys again, and it was so much worse because I could see it in your eyes. Everyone who was on that team in Brazil, Thomas, Mats, Benni, all of us who knew what it meant to go down a point right before half time with this ref. I have never seen Jogi look like that before. I know it was hard being on that field, and I have no idea how you all fought through what was thrown at you. But not being on that field was so much worse. There was nothing I could do. But you guys did the best you could and no one got hurt this time. It is not the same as winning, but it is what we got. Can you learn to be ok with that?” Poldi asked.

I took a deep breath and replied, “Yeah, I think I can.”

“Then I think you have your answer. Are you going to go talk to the press now or not?” he questioned.

“I kind of have to, don’t I? They all came here to see me,” I answered, peeking at the crowd of reporters in the next room.

“And I have my own decision to make, but I promise that whatever I decide, you will be the first to know,” he promised.

“I can live with that. I got to go, my publicist is coming for me,” I told him, chewing my fingernail.

“Go, call me when you are done. Bye, Basti,” Poldi said, hanging up before I could reply.

I put my phone in my pocket and took a deep breath and held it for a moment. I pushed my way through the door as I let it out, on my way to do a press conference I was still unsure about.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Let me know what you think, I just had to write something about Basti’s announcement. I knew it would be coming, but it is still sad to have it officially announced. I haven’t written anything fic length in so long, this feel so great. Leave kudos or a comment if you liked it. :)


End file.
